In 1994, a ground-breaking study was released in the famous book “Built to Last by James Collins and Jerry Porras. They undertook a comparative study between two categories of companies, which they designated:

Visionary Companies included companies like 3M, Merck, GE, IBM, Nordstrom, Walt Disney, and Sony. They were defined as:

• Premier institutions in their industries who were widely admire by their peers
• Having a long track record of making a significant impact on the world around them
• Founded before 1950,
• Endured multiple generations of chief executives
• Having been through multiple product (or service) life cycles.

Comparison Companies were chosen by their status as strong competitors to their counterpart Visionary Company, those who did not have the same track record of success.

What characterized visionary companies in terms of culture? The culture is what carried them through change and adversity, not individual leadership. It was all about their ability to adapt to change at the same time they were crystal clear about what they were in business to do and what they stand for: It wasn’t one great breakthrough idea – it was their ability to execute through experimentation, opportunism, and trial and error.

Source: Built To Last by James C. Collins and Jerry I. Porras (1994)